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Early life[edit]

Denton was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up in nearby Goodlettsville, the second of three children. His father, J.T. Denton (1930–1993), was a dentist who had served in the military.[1] His mother, Mary Jean Woolslair Denton, died from breast cancer in 2002.

Denton attended the University of Tennessee where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, majored in television/journalism and earned a degree in advertising. Before he became an actor, he sold advertising for two radio stations. He began acting at the age of 23, at a community theater in Nashville. He eventually moved to California to become a full-time actor. He was for a time credited as Jamie Denton, for example in the film That Old Feeling.

Career[edit]

While living in Chicago, Denton's first role was as "Stanley" in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and his last was as the terrorist "Bebert" in the French farce "Lapin Lapin". In the years that came between the two, JD was a company member at The Griffin Theater and at Strawdog Theater Ensemble. He added a steady string of roles and accolades to his quickly growing list of achievements, including one of the leads in the world premiere of "Flesh and Blood", performing in and composing the music for "the Night Hank Williams Died", and his portrayal of Kentucky preacher "C.C. Showers" in "The Diviners" - which gained him a nomination for a Best Actor "Joseph Jefferson Award" (Chicago's only theater award).

After moving to Los Angeles, Denton continued to perform on stage, usually during hiatus from whichever TV series to which he was attached at the time, and many of the plays, as well as the independent movies in which JD has appeared, have been written by his good friend, Mike Petty. For example, "In Walked Monk", in which JD played the role of "Steven" during the summer of 1999, was written by Mike Petty, as was "Locked Up Down Shorty's", in which JD played the role of "Danny", during the summer of 2001.

Personal life[edit]

In high school, Denton dated country music artist Deana Carter. Apparently he was the inspiration to her hit song, Strawberry Wine. He has been married twice. He was married to Jenna Lyn Ward from 1997 to 2000. On December 16, 2002 he married Erin O'Brien, a personal trainer at Life Time Fitness.[2] They have two children: a son, Sheppard (b. March 2003) and a daughter, Malin O’Brien (b. March 22, 2005). They had a house in Glendale, California.[5] After Desperate Housewives ended, the family moved to Chanhassen near Minneapolis, Minnesota.[2][6]